Typewriting machine



June 27, 1939. w. F. HELMOND TYPEWRITING MAGHINE Original Filed Aug. 15, 1955 lill/(III SISI" Lw Patented June 27, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TYPEWRITING MACHINE William F. Helmond, West Hartford, Conn., as-

signor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Original application August 15, 1935, Serial No. 36,272. Divided and this application October 29, 1936, Serial No. 108,130

3 Claims. (Cl. 197-138) This invention relates to the paper-feed or it being understood that the feed-roll rotates pressure rolls that are associated with the platenupon the periphery of the sleeve. roll f a, typewriter, This application is a division of my applica- Feed-rolls at the top of the platen are mounted tion Serial No. 36,272, filed August l5, 1935, now 5 upon a rod along which they are adjustable in Patent No. 2,134,821, dated November 1, 1938. 5

that they are manually shiftable at will to dif- Other features and advantages will hereinferent positions along the platen, and a feature after appear.

of the invention resides in improved means for In the accompanying drawing,

mounting the top feed-rolls upon said rod and Figure 1 is a front View representing the platen for yieldably detenting them thereon so that they and the top feed-roll-bail structure of an Un- 10 will of themselves stay in the positions to which derwood Noiseless typewriter. they are adjusted. Figure 2 is a perspective illustrating a locking The top feed-roll-mounting rod is movable to device for holding down the top feed-roll-bail Withdraw the top feed-rolls from the platen and employed in the standard Underwood machine.

to return them, and novel locking means are Figure 3 is a sectional side view of the platen 15 herein disclosed for maintaining the top feedand the top feed-roll structure seen in Figure 1. rolls in operative position to direct a stiff work- Figure 4 shows on an enlarged scale the top sheet around the platen. feed-rolls and supporting rod of Figure 1, one of The means for mounting a top feed-roll on its the feed-rolls being shown in section to show supporting rod or spindle include a feed-rolldetails of mounting the same upon said supportjournaling sleeve having provision for frictioning rod. ally gripping the rod through the medium of Figure 5 is a View similarl to Figure 4 showing soft, smoothly slidable material, such as cloth, a packing gland removed for insertion of the soft leather or felt, for example. Felt is preferfelt packing.

ably used. The felt grip obviates marring the Figure 6 is a View of a section on the plane 6-6 25 finish of the rod when the feed-roll is slidably of Figure 5. adjusted along the latter. It is feasible therefore Figure '7 is a fragmentary side View showing to use a black or other nish on which marks, the application of a novel hold-down device for forming a feed-roll-setting scale, will stand out the top feed-roll bail of Figure 1.

with pleasing legibility. The use of the felt grip The usual Underwood platen Ill is journaled 30 also renders the sliding of the feed-roll along the by axle I I in a platen-frame comprising ends I2 rod pleasingly smooth and quiet, and also conand I3, and a base 40. Front and rear feed-rolls duces to other noise-silencing effects. The felt I4 and I5, Figure 3, run upon the bottdrn of the grip moreover yieldably butstably detents the platen. Type-bars I6 strike the platen I0.

feed-roll in its adjusted position on the rod. The Top feed-rolls 51, Figure 1, are adjustable on 35 felt gripis yieldable in the sense that it permits cross-rod 58 to different positions along the platthe feed roll to be shifted along the rod by ordien I0. Figures 1 and 3 show said cross-rod 58 nary manual force such as is usually applied by supported by side arms 59 of known constructhe typist in adjusting top feed rolls along the tion, each side arm including a part 60 pivoted platen but the grip is nevertheless rm enough to the platen-frame end I2 or I3 at 6I, and a 40 of itself to make the feed roll stay in the posipart 62 connected to said pivoted part 60 for tion to which it is adjusted. The felt grip )may sliding endwise of the latter under the urging of be formed by means of a lining packed between a spring 63, which thus acts to press the top the bore of the sleeve and the top feed-roll-supfeed-rolls against the platen, the cross-rod 53 porting rod and adapted to shift with the shift being attached at each of its end-portions, as at 45 of the feed roll. To this end the felt packing may 64, to vsaid spring-pressed part 62. Said arms consist of a number of felt washers packed face 59 serve for swinging the top feed-rolls 51 beto face within said bore and compressed, and tween on and off positions indicated respectively thereby contracted collectively endwise of the by the full and dotted outlines, Figure 3. A

sleeve, so that at their center holes the indi- Spring-Dressed detent 66, Figure 3, Divoted at 50 vidual washers are forced against and thereby 61 t0 each platen-frame end I2, I3, engages the frictionally grip the rod. Said rod is preferably top feed-roll bail 5B, 59 for detenting the latter of square cross-section so that in co-operation with the top feed-rolls in vengagement with the with the felt packing forced against the flat faces platen. Y

of the rod, the sleeve is keyed against rotation, Each top feed-roll 51 includes a jacket 69 hav- 55 ing a bushing 18 for rotating upon a sleeve 1| which is adjustable along the cross-rod 58. A packing of soft material, preferably felt, is made up of a number of felt washers 13 inserted face to face within a counterbore 14 of the journaling sleeve 1| and collectively compressed, by a plug or gland 16, screwed into thread 11 of said counterbore 14 after insertion of said washers 13. The gland 16 may be tightened by forcing its flange 18 against the end of the sleeve, Figure 4. Said flange 18 co-operates with sleeve flange 80 to retain the feed-roll endwise upon the journalling sleeve 1|. The felt packing 13, as it is squeezed, and contracted endwise, by means of the gland 16 flows radially, and is therefore caused to embrace the cross-rod 58 with a flr'm grip which stably detents the sleeve 1|, with its feed-roll 51, at its adjusted position upon said cross-rod 58. The division of the felt packing into a number of washers 13 simplifies the manufacture and application of said packing. By its radial flow, incident to its endwise contraction by compression, the packing may be molded to the cross-sectional form of the cross-rod 58, and the latter may therefore act in conjunction with said packing to key said journaling sleeve 1| against rotation. For this purpose the crossrod 58 may be of square cro-ss-section, and the packing of felt washers 13 will be molded or impacted against the nat faces of the square crossrod as indicated in Figure 6 when the packing is compressed. As indicated at 8|, Figure 4, the felt packing acts to keep the bore of the sleeve 1| and its gland 15 clear of the cross-rod 58, so that nothing of the feed-roll structure touches said cross-rod except the soft felt packing 13; it being understood that the packing shifts along with the manual shift of the feed roll structure. The felt packing 13 thus serves to prevent marring of the nnish of the cross-rod 58, and it becomes practicable therefore to finish the crossrod so that feed-roll-setting scale-markings 83 will stand out pleasingly legible. For example, the cross-rod 58 may be finished in black-nickel and the scale-markings 83 finished in white. The felt packing keeps the sleeve 1| from scufiing off the finish when the feed-roll 51 is moved along the rod, and being soft does not itself mar the finish. The felt packing 13 also prevents rattling of the sleeve 1| upon the cross-rod, and it also conduces to reducing the transmission of type-impact noises from the platen I8 to the platen-frame by way of the feed-roll bail 58, 59. Although the felt packing or grip 13 stably detents or stays the feed-roll 51 in any adjusted position, it also makes the forcible movement of said feed-roll along the cross-rod 58, as by the operators ngers, feasible and pleasingly smooth. The detenting effect of the packing yields to permit the lateral movement of the feed roll structure by the ngers. Wrench notches 84, in the ends of the sleeve 1| and gland 16, are used for turning said gland relatively to said sleeve.

Figure '1 shows a novel catch 85, provided for holding the top feed-rolls 51 stably against the platen. Said catch is particularly useful when the top feed-rolls are applied to direct a stiff card around the curve of the platen. Without the stable holding feature afforded by said catch the tendency of the stiff card to straighten would tend to push the top feed-rolls away from the platen by overcoming the lfeed-roll pressuresprings 83 and by swinging the bail about its pivots 8|. One of the novel catches 85 is provided at each side of the bail and is pivoted upon a stud 86 provided in each of the platen-frame ends |2, I3. A holding edge 81 of the catch 85 may engage over the cross-rod 58, as seen in Figure 7, and may be shaped so that the line of reaction of said cross-rod thereagainst will pass substantially through the center of the pivotstud 86 and thereby enable said catch to positively hold said cross-rod. The pivot-stud 86 may be located so that, as indicated in Figure '1, said holding edge 81 of the catch is inclined to the direction in which the endwise movable part 62 of the bail arm 59 would yield; and thereby the top feed-rolls are prevented from yielding in such direction. Said location of the pivotstud 86 may furthermore place said holding edge 81 of the catch 85 at an angle with the platen surface so that the catch 85 will act to prevent the bail-springs 63 from pushing the feed-rolls 51, clockwise of Figure 1, around the platen. The catches 85 may be swung around their pivotstuds 86 to the dotted-line position, Figure '1, for permitting the top feed-rolls to be swung off the platen. A spring 19 may hold each catch 85 against a stop 82, when the top feed-rolls are cast oif. Upon returning the top feed-rolls to the platen, the cross-rod 58 engages a cam-edge 85a of each catch to push the latter aside until the holding edge 81 snaps over the cross-rod. The catch is shown with a corner 85b resting against the face of the cross-rod 58. A stopnose 85c of the catch arrests downward movement of the bail at return of the feed-rolls to the platen. The novel catch may be engaged over the cross-rod 58 at a point adjacent the inner face of the bail-arm part 62, as indicated by the yz,-

dotted outline 85 in Figure 1.

Figure 2 shows a modied hold-down device for use with a top feed-roll bail 88, such as is employed in the standard Underwood typewriter. In said latter machine each platen-frame end 89 has a detachable mask or cover 98. A manually swingable bail-holding arm 9| may be formed as in Figure 2 to overlie the mask 98 so that a pivot-screw 92 about which said arm is turned also serves to attach the mask 98 to the platen-frame end 89. A spacer 93 seats the holding-arm 9| upon said mask, and a springwasher 94 under the head of the pivot-screw 92 causes the holding arm 9| to be frictionally detented in its effective position, indicated in Figure 2, or in the cast-off position to which said holding arm 9| may be turned in the direction of the arrow, Figure 2, preparatory to swinging the top feed-roll bail away from the platen. A toe 95 of said holding arm 9| opposes the feedroll rod 88a of the bail 88 and thereby holds a top feed-roll 91 against displacement from the platen 95, as indicated in Figure 2, which represents the bail side arms 98 extending toward a pivot-axis behind the platen. One of the bailholding arms 9| may be applied at each end of the platen-frame. The holding arm 9| may be manipulated by means of a finger-piece 99.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. In a typing machine having a platen; a supporting rod, a feed roll cooperative with said platen, a sleeve within said feed roll, the periphery of said sleeve forming a journal for said feed roll, said sleeve having a` bore forming an annular recess between the rod and sleeve, said bore being reduced, at axially spaced portions, toward the diameter-of the rod to form opposite end shoulders for the recess, and a packing of soft material compacted in said recess to grip the rod frictionally to detent said sleeve on said rod, said packing detenting said sleeve against rotation on said rod While the feed roll rotates on said sleeve but being frictionally yieldable alo-ng the rod to permit adjustment at will of the sleeve and feed roll along the rod.

2. In a typing machine having a platen; a supporting rod, a feed roll cooperative with said platen, a sleevewithin said feed roll, the periphery of said sleeve forming a journal for said feed roll, said sleeve having a bore larger in diameter than the rod to forni an annular recess between the rod and sleeve, said bore at one end thereof stepping down in diameter toward the rod to form an end shoulder for said recess, a packing of soft material retained in said recess, and a plug inserted and retained in the other end of said bore to form an opposite end shoulder for said recess, said packing detenting said sleeve against rotation on said rod while the feed roll rotates on said sleeve but being frictionally yieldable along the rod to permit adjustment at will of the sleeve and feed roll along the rod.

3. In a typing machine having a platen; a supporting rod, a feed roll cooperative with said platen, a sleeve within said feed roll, the periphery of said sleeve forming a journal for said feed roll, said sleeve having a bore larger in diameter than the rod to form an annular recess between the rod and sleeve, said bore at one end thereof stepping down in diameter toward the rod to form an end shoulder for said recess, a packing of soft material retained in said recess, and a plug inserted and retained in the other end of said bore to form an opposite end shoulder for said recess, one end of said sleeve having a feedroll-retaining flange and said plug having a similar feed-roll-retaining flange adjacent the opposite end of said sleeve, said packing detenting said sleeve against rotation on said rod While the feed roll rotates on said sleeve but being frictionally yieldable along the rod to permit adjustment at will of the sleeve and feed roll along the rod.

WILLIAM F. HELMOND. 

